It should come as no surprise, and has been rumoured for a while now. The first GF104 cards, the GTX 460s, had 1 full cluster, or 48 shaders disabled. Based on yields, a faster GF104 was speculated, possibly as a replacement for GTX 470. Fudzilla reports that NVIDIA is indeed planning a full 384 SP / 256-bit GF104 based card.

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It should come as no surprise, and has been rumoured for a while now. The first GF104 cards, the GTX 460s, had 1 full cluster, or 48 shaders disabled. Based on yields, a faster GF104 was speculated, possibly as a replacement for GTX 470. Fudzilla reports that NVIDIA is indeed planning a full 384 SP / 256-bit GF104 based card.

Despite feature more shaders (448 SP), wider memory interface (320-bit), more ROPs (40) GTX 470 is bogged down by relatively low clock speeds, as expected from a salvage chip. The full GF104 is expected make up for the deficit in core units by higher clock speeds, with the core clock likely to exceed 700 MHz. The fully enabled GF104 may end up faster than the GTX 470, and thus, the nomenclature of GTX 475 is being rumoured.

The GTX 460 has already effectively replaced the GTX 465. The GTX 470 will soon be replaced by another GF104 product. Finally, a dual GPU version of GTX 460 is being heavily rumoured, and will likely replace the GTX 480, though the 480 could survive for a while as a bridge between the “GTX 475″ and the dual-GF104. In effect, the GF100 may end up being a short lived chip for the Geforce line. NVIDIA have been sensible in recognizing the dreadful performance/watt/die-size ratio of the GF100, and are understandably abandoning it for a more sensible ATI-like approach. The GF104 has a far more efficient performance/watt/die-size compromise, and this shift in strategy mimics ATI’s efficiency strategy with Cypress. Though, it is fair to question why NVIDIA persevered with GF100 for so long.

The release date for the forthcoming GF104 products are still speculative, though Fudzilla suggest the “GTX 475″ will release towards the end of summer – a very ambiguous time in itself. While some rumours have attributed the delay of the full GF104 to poor yields, it is just as likely that NVIDIA is holding off release to sell out the GTX 470 cards – which haven’t been a success. With ATI’s Southern Islands looming in early Q4, NVIDIA can do with releasing their new products as soon as possible.